Honeywell, Saint-Gobain Sued Over Chemical-Tainted Water By Suevon Lee, April 7, 2016, Law360
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp. and Honeywell International Inc. are the targets of a proposed class action filed Wednesday in New York federal court relating to a toxic chemical released from the companies’ manufacturing facility that allegedly contaminated an upstate town’s water supply.
The suit comes six months after residents of the Village of Hoosick Falls, a town about 30 miles from Albany, were warned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency not to use their local water supply for drinking and cooking after tests of the public… [Subscription req’d]
Filters causing frustrations for people in Town of Hoosick by Anna Meiler, March 11, 2016, News Channel 13
HOOSICK FALLS – The Department of Environmental Conservation installed a filtration system at Amy Breese’s house to reduce the level of PFOA in her water. Dealing with a toxic chemical in her private well has been troubling enough, but she says the problems keep on coming- like black specks in her water.
“You notice it when you flush the toilet or if you unscrew the faucet you can see a bit of the carbon particles,” said Breese.
DEC workers came to her house to check out the problem on Wednesday, but told her there’s nothing wrong with how her filtration system is set up. They left without making any changes.
“If it’s running through the system and it’s going to clog the washing machine or the dishwasher that’s potentially another expense,” she said.
Breese is also worried because the DEC accidentally installed valves at several homes with warning labels attached that say they’re illegal to use in the United States for drinking water and contain a chemical known to cause cancer. Amy’s valves didn’t have a label, but she says DEC workers don’t know if they’re safe.
“They couldn’t give me a definitive answer on whether my valves are okay or not,” she said. “He said we’re replacing all the valves. When they come on Saturday they’re replacing all the valves just in case.”
But a spokesperson for the DEC tells NewsChannel 13 that’s not true and says they’re only replacing the faulty valves.
“We are getting mixed messages,” she said.
Breese says the bottom line is people with private wells don’t want filters at all. They want a completely new source of water- just like the governor has promised people in the village of Hoosick Falls.
“I think it’s imperative for everyone to have clean, healthy water,” said Breese.
Breese also says she finds it discouraging that Governor Cuomo hasn’t visited the town or village yet.
Governor Cuomo’s office tells NewsChannel 13 he will be going soon. [Emphasis added. Starting in 2006, Alberta Environment promised repeatedly that the regulator was going to give Rosebud a formal presentation to explain the fraudulent Alberta Research Council reviews (that blamed citizens and nature for industrial contaminants in the water) of the regulator’s incomplete and fraudulent gopher shit investigation of the community-wide drinking water contamination after Encana illegally fractured the hamlet’s drinking water supply. A decade later, neither government nor regulator has kept that promise. Filters were provided by Wheatland County (paid for by taxpayers?) to residents of the hamlet, but not to private water well owners]